Will Smith issued a very simple statement in response to the Academy’s decision to ban him from all events linked to them for the next decade. After the meeting to decide Smith’s punishment for his Oscar’s outburst and for slapping Chris Rock during the 94th Academy Awards last month, the Academy announced yesterday that Smith would be banned from attending anything run by them for ten years, which obviously includes all Oscar related events. Following the announcement, Smith issued a one-line statement, which he will likely hope brings the fallout of his actions to an end.
Per CNN, Smith’s statement simply read: "I accept and respect the Academy's decision."
The incident involving the actor has now been seen by billions of people around the world, and has put but Smith and wife Jada in the spotlight much more than if the joke that instigated the chaotic moment had been allowed to pass like every other joke of the evening. However, in slapping Rock, Smith has now seen his upcoming movies being impacted, become the subject of hundreds of internet memes and videos, and has opened up a lot of opinion about both himself and his wife from Hollywood insiders, other actors and the public.
In the wake of the incident, Smith handed in his resignation to the Academy, with a long apology to everyone involved. In his resignation letter, Smith said that he had “betrayed the trust of the Academy” and had “deprived other nominees and winners of their opportunity to celebrate and be celebrated for their extraordinary work.” This mirrored comments made by the Academy, which acknowledged that Smith’s actions had overshadowed what should have been a celebratory event for many stars.
Will Smith Could Still Win Another Oscar But Will Not Be Able to Receive It In Person
Although Smith’s ban from all AMPAS events, which means that the actor cannot carry on the tradition of presenting the Best Actor award at next year’s ceremony, that does not mean that he will not be nominated and potentially win again in the future. Although at this moment in time, the idea of Smith being nominated for another award seems a world away from being possible, a decade in Hollywood is a long time. The punishment given to Smith by the Board of Governors does not prohibit Smith from having his future work considered for an award, and simply means that he would not be able to accept it if he were to win.
Right now, Smith will be hoping that he can get his current slate of upcoming projects back on track, with a number of reports suggesting that almost all of the films currently being discussed that feature the actor have been indefinitely paused or are no longer the interest of some big backers like Netflix. How all of this pans out in the coming weeks and months is something Smith will seemingly have to wait to find out, but with many tabloids now turning their attention to Smith and his wife’s personal life, and details of Pinkett-Smith’s “entanglement” set to be released in a book, it seems that people are still going to be talking about it for some time to come.